AIS summit unites Athlete Wellbeing Practitioners to lead change

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) recently brought the nation’s Athlete Wellbeing and Engagement (AW&E) Practitioners together as part of high performance sport’s growing commitment to Win Well—the philosophy that wellbeing is the key to sporting success.

Held at Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium, this year’s annual Wellbeing and Engagement Network Summit centred around the theme ‘Elevating Wellbeing & Engagement: Empowering Practitioners to Lead Change’.

A total of 80 AW&E practitioners from both national sporting organisations and state sport institutes and academies took part, including Cliff Maina from AusCycling, who found the opportunity to learn from others invaluable.

“There are so many different contexts that people do this role in so it’s great to connect with colleagues around their pain points, their solutions, their problem-solving tactics and strategies that I can definitely bring back to cycling,” Maina said.

“Everyone wants to win and wants to be successful and they're seeing wellbeing as a key lever in that.”

Jane Altschwager, the AW&E Lead for both Shooting Australia and Adelaide Thunderbirds netball team, added: “We all come from different sports and different backgrounds with different athletes so it can't be a one-size-fits-all approach.

“If you are not feeling good within yourself off the range, off the court, off the track, out of the pool, it has major implications on the way you perform on the day. The more that we can help in that space and deliver an athlete who is ready to go on all fronts when the time counts, the better off we are when trying to achieve those goals of medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Since its inception in 2018, the AW&E network has grown exponentially and aligns with the ethos of Australia’s High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy (Win Well Strategy), opens in a new tab that wellbeing is the foundation to sustainable success and to enable athletes to reach their full potential in both sport and in life.

Find out more about the AW&E Network on the Australian Sports Commission website, opens in a new tab.